The Middletown Press (Middletown, CT)
Huskies run past Owls in exhibition
STORRS — Bigger, stronger, faster?
Well, definitely faster. Better? Remains to be seen. For years, UConn basketball coaches have promised the Huskies will run more each season. And for years, those teams simply haven’t been able to get out in transition.
In its exhibition game with Southern Connecticut on Friday night, UConn applied the type of pressure defense Dan Hurley covets, and the results were good.
The Huskies overcame a sluggish start and ran their way to a 96-64 victory at Gampel Pavilion. The Huskies had 23 fastbreak points at the half and finished with 40 for the game. At times it was pretty — like when Christian Vital hit Jalen Adams with about a 50-foot outlet pass for a layup, or when Vital took a long outlet off an Eric Cobb rebound and slammed it home.
Acrobatic wing Kwintin Williams even got in on the act, with a breakway dunk midway through the second half.
When it was all said and done, it was the Husky guards who did the bulk of the work. Freshman Brendan Adams led the way with 17 points, Tarin Smith and Alterique Gilbert added 12 each and Jalen Adams and Christian Vital had 11 apiece.
Josh Carlton led the bigs with nine points and seven rebounds.
The game got off to an inauspicious start for the Huskies. When the Owls began the game with a wideopen 3-pointer that missed,
got the long offensive rebound and hit another wideopen trey, it seemed eerily similar to too many of outings the past two seasons.
When they followed with a couple more easy baskets, it was deja vu all over again.
And when UConn missed four straight free throws with a chance to take its first lead midway through the half, it looked like another example of the Huskies unable to put away an inferior opponent — a hallmark of the past two years.
But after McLeod’s 3-pointer put the Owls up 26-23 with 8:13 left in the half, the Huskies unleashed a 29-14 run to end the half — kicked off by six straight Smith points and highlighted by a bunch of transition layups and dunks.
Just the way past UConn coaches always promised, but rarely achieved over the past several years.
RIM RATTLINGS:
SCSU coach and former UConn star Scott Burrell had his No. 24 retired to the Huskies of Honor prior to the game. Among those in attendance for the ceremony were Jim Calhoun and Dee Rowe.
⏩ Jalen Adams didn’t start, a result of a violation of team rules last week. Hurley said Adams would be a game-time decision, and he finally entered the game about 7 1⁄2
minutes in. Adams looked rusty for much of the contest until coming alive late in the second half.
⏩ Sidney Wilson, currently suspended from game competition, sat on the end of the Huskies’ bench. No word on what Wilson is being punished for or for how long, but it doesn’t appear to be something that will drag on for too long. According to a university source, there is a timeframe on Wilson’s punishment.